Are the two lines curved? Are you sure? Trick: the lines are actually perfectly parallel, but your eyes make you think they are curved.
How many shelves - three or four? Trick: it is impossible to count how many there are because you cannot see where one starts and finishes.
Are you looking down the coil from the left-hand side or the right? Trick: the rings are symmetrical and so it can be either through the left or right.
How many parallel lines can you find? Trick: all the lines that are horizontal and all that are vertical are parallel to each other. However, because the diagonal lines running from top-left to bottom-right are not at correct angles to the perpendicular lines, it does not seem that they are parallel.
Do the lines slope? Check again! Trick: This is called the Cafe Wall Illusion. All the lines are perfectly parallel, but because the blocks do not line up, they seem closer or further apart at certain points. Read more about it on this page: http://www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/visual/cafewall.html
Are the dots white, or black? Trick: the dots are really white, but your mind confuses them ad being grey or black.
Spot the black cirlces! Trick: there are no black circles - your mind just creates them.
Do you see three lines, or do you see a letter? Trick: the picture can be both - there are three lines, and also, they make the highlights on the letter E.
Lines, squares or triangles? Trick: the diagonally bending lines make the illusion of traingles and sqaures.
Focus on the cross, and move your head gently towards the image. Spooky! Trick: If you move closer and further away from the image, the circles seem to rotate because your mind is unable to process all their movements properly when the eyes are not looking at them. Instead, they are focusing on then centre.
The never-ending stairs. These'll soon get you fit... Trick: the illusion of steps that never end can only be shown in 2D. It is not really possible to create this and have correct heights of the steps.
Can you see the two-dimensional image shimmering like a three-dimensional one? Trick: The curves of the lines make a spinning effect, and also blend the colours to make others as well. Focusing on this picture for a long time and then looking onto something else will allow you to continue 'seeing' it.
More impossible steps! Trick: this time, although they have been constructed on computer, they create the illusion of defying height. Do not read too much into this picture, it is merely a trick.
Believe it or not, that's a circle you're looking at! Trick: correct, that circle in the middle is perfectly circular, but the arrows and lines around it make it seem 'pear-shaped'.
Ladies and gentlemen, a square with bendy lines! Trick: the square is actually perfectly perpendicular and equilateral, but the curves of the circles seem to 'bend' them.
How to make straight lines curve... Trick: the two horizontal lines are parallel, but the outward perspective of the lines generated by the circle create an illusion.
Look into the vase. What do you see? Trick: this is a well-known optical illusion. Although you may also see two silhouettes of people staring at each other on a white background, their heads (crowns) are somewhat malformed. In this way, although one could be led to believe it is both, it is more likely to just be a vase.
Another magic vase! Trick: as the same as the previous, the heads are malformed. Hence, although the vase it certainly possible, the tower it stands on has just been formed to look like cross-sections of people's faces.
Look at the central circles. Which one is bigger? Trick: the central circles are actually exactly the same size. It is the larger or smaller circles around them that control their 'space'.
Which of the horizontal lines is longer? Are you sure? Trick: the horizontal lines are the same length, but the diagonal ones change the amount of 'space' around them.
It's funny how your brain creates things that don't exist. Take these circles, for instance... Trick: there are no circles or sqaures, your mind just creates them.
The magic cube - which face is at the front? Trick: there is no real answer because it can be both. This framework would not perfectly work in 3D. However, your mind creates the illusion that it is 3D, but it is at what point you look at that changes the 'position' of the front.
Are you looking at the inside or the outside of the book? Trick: again, there is no real answer because the 2D shape allows it to be both.
Which line is longer? Check again! Trick: both horizontal lines are exactly the same length, but the arrow lines make them seem longer and shorter.
It's amazing how creatures can be so alike... Trick: the image can be interpreted both as a seal with its tail up, and the head of a horse.
Beware the curse of vanity! Trick: the image shows a woman staring into her large mirror, but the mirror and her actually make it look like a skull. Notice her head and the reflection of her head make the eyes; the teeth of the skull are made by her bottles.
The demon drink! Trick: again, two people's faces are against some kind of mirror, and the bottles and arms make up the teeth of the skull.
Two devilishly beautiful women! Trick: again, this time, the crown of the head is the archway, and the two women standing opposite each other make the nose and their arms make the sneering mouth of the head.
Which is the tallest solider? Trick: all three soldiers are actually the same height, but the distance in perspective changes their illusion of their heights. Theoretically, as they move further away, their height should get smaller proportionally because they are further away, even if they all are the same height. However, on this picture, their heights are shown exactly the same as 2D. Therefore the one furthest away seems taller.
Who do you see - an old lady or a young one? Trick: there is a young lady, who is looking away from the picture, and also an old lady with a long chin and nose looking down towards the front-left of the picture.
Is this person lying about their age? Trick: it is difficult to tell if this person is old or young, so he is considered to be both.
Bunny Duck! Trick: on the North-West/South-East line with base on the bottom-left is a duck, but on the bottom-right is a rabbit.
Who'd have thought that Eskimos and Red Indians could be so closely related? Trick: this picture shows an eskimo with a coat on looking out away from the picture into the dark black; but the whole image is also the head of a Red Indian with a closed eye left.
How many legs does this elephant have? Trick: it is impossible to know how because where one leg starts, it does not finish, apart from the one at the back.
Here's a tricky one. Do you see an old man surrounded by leaves, or a couple kissing? Don't give up - it'll come! Trick: it can be difficult to see both of these.
A hungry bird, or a hunger fisherman? Trick: the same image has been designed to show both these situations: on the top, a very large bird eating someone; on the bottom, a fisherman in his boat catching a big black fish next to a little island with a tree.
A very elegant moustachioed lady. Trick: looking away from the left is a woman, but towards the front right, is a man with a moustouche. The image is designed to be both. There is also vaguely a person with a big chin looking towards on the left.
Spot the dog! Trick: it can be difficult to find the dog. It is sniffing the ground looking away to the left.
See the face of Jesus. Stare at the four dots for thirty seconds, then close your eyes and hold back your head. Have you seen the light?
So good to see you, your Majesty. Stare at the image for a minute, then close your eyes.
Let there be light! Stare at the image for a minute, then shut your eyes...
Lady in black. Stare at the image for a minute and then close your eyes. Trick :If you are unaware, this changes between a woman and a animated man playing some sort of saxophone.
Read the sign. Now read it again. Were you right first time? Trick: the splitting where the word 'the' is repeated is not always obvious the first time you see it.
Rearrange the sections of the top image, and you get the bottom image. Where does the hole come from? Trick: all the shapes are actually all exactly the same size, but somehow their area is different. This could be due to the different gradients the triangles make (the smaller triangle has gradient 2/5 while the larger one has 3/8). This means the overall triangles themselves does not overlap each other.
